Khodorkovsky and his business partner, Platon Lebedev, have been the target of a lengthy court process stemming from the allegedly illegal acquisition of shares in a fertilizer-component maker in 1994.

Khodorkovsky has repeatedly denied that he is guilty of any charges and noted that under the law of the time, the deals were not illegal.

The criminal case against Khodorkovsky and a parallel tax case against Yukos have reduced the company - once Russia's largest oil producer - to a shell of its former self.

President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly contended that both investigations targeted a rotten business empire and its owners.

More than 5.8 million people voted for Nicholas Maduro at the presidential election in Venezuela. This is more than a quarter of registered voters. Why did those people vote for the man, who, as Western media write, took Venezuela to the brink of collapse?